"Top Gun 2" Preparing for Take-Off

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Does anyone have any idea where Maverick, Goose, Iceman and Charlie are? Because "Top Gun 2" is heading straight for us.

Tom Cruise is reportedly on board to reprise his role as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, of the sexually conflicted, karaoke-loving flyboy, but only if it's a smaller part. Presumably, the task of rounding up Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan and all the other stars who made the 1986 film a classic is underway.

The years have been kind to Cruise, but not everyone in the high-profile cast has weathered the quarter-century as well. Check out the gallery below to see how they looked then and how the appear today.

Then, sit back and wait for this project to come to life like the roar of a fighter jet's engine. It's going to happen. Paramount has approached producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Tony Scott, the creative forces behind the original, about finally making a sequel to the most successful and homoerotic Navy pilot film of all time, reported Vulture. And the studio is zeroing in on Chris McQuarrie ("The Usual Suspects") to write the script.

"Top Gun" Cast Then and Now

No one is working harder than David Ellison, son of Oracle founder and the sixth richest man in the world Larry Ellison, to make Cruise a huge star again. The scion was also the one put together the financing for "Mission: Impossible 4."

Just 3-years-old when "Top Gun" debuted, Ellison became a licensed pilot before heading off to USC's film school and founding his own production company, Skydance. His first feature, in which he also starred was "Flyboys," a WW I epic featuring James Franco--that nobody saw.

But before we dismiss Ellison as a dilettante, let's note that he's also one of the EPs on the Coen Brothers' upcoming "True Grit" remake starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin.